News Clips
Open Source for America Delivers Federal Report Card
Open Source for America has published a Federal Open Technology Report Card that "evaluates key indicators of open government and open technologies developed through online crowd sourcing and refined metrics outlined by the OSFA leadership committee." The report card includes questions and responses regarding public budgets, use of social media, and open source technology practices.
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Using Mirth Connect For Healthcare Data & System Integration
Mirth Connect does some amazing things with XML. The Community behind Mirth Connect is worldwide and they are always willing to provide assistance and improve the product. Bugs that are found by the Community are quickly fixed and integrated into the new version. There are no fees for Mirth Connect and the intuitive creation tools even the recommended database and database tools being all open source, this contributes to the popularity of the product and the thousands of product sites up and running. Read More »
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VA Streamlines Service Delivery With Mobile Technology
The Department of Veterans Affairs is swiftly moving ahead developing secure mobile tools for its workforce as Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel is calling for broader adoption of mobile technology in the federal government. Read More »
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The Inverse Benefit Law: How Drug Marketing Undermines Patient Safety and Public Health
Recent highly publicized withdrawals of drugs from the market because of safety concerns raise the question of whether these events are random failures or part of a recurring pattern.The inverse benefit law highlights the need for comparative effectiveness research and other reforms to improve evidence-based prescribing. Read More »
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Open Source for America Publishes Federal Open Technology Report Card
Open Source for America (OSFA), an organization of technology industry leaders, non-government associations, and academic and research institutions promoting the use of open source technologies in the U.S. federal government, today published the results of a study measuring openness in government.
Birmingham VA Medical Center Selects HB Mobile for Home Based Primary Care Program
The Birmingham VA Medical Center, an acute tertiary care facility that serves the veteran population of Alabama, has selected HB Mobile from DSS to provide an integrated mobile electronic health record solution for its Home Based Primary Care nurse Case Managers.
According to a release, the Birmingham VAMC was selected in August 2009 by the Veterans Integrated Service Network 7 (VISN 7) to be the Alpha test site for HB Mobile. The application allows HBPC nurses to schedule case loads as well as access and input patient information at a veteran's home for improved care. Read More »
ONC Will Focus on Interoperability in 2011
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT will focus in 2011 on activities that will enable healthcare providers to perform complex exchanges of information and on the technical foundation to support secure sharing.
ONC is considering a set of tasks it needs to undertake “in short order” to make it possible for stage 2 of meaningful use to have a more robust exchange of information, said Dr. David Blumenthal, national health IT coordinator, at the Jan. 12 meeting of the advisory Health IT Standards Committee .
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House Websites Could Move to Open-Source Platform
The House is soliciting bids on an open-source content management platform that would give operators of its 520 websites more flexibility.
Drupal is now the "preferred web hosting environment for the House," according to the vendor source solicitation document released by the Office of the House Chief Administrative Officer. The incoming House freshman's sites are all hosted on the Drupal platform, but other members have the option of making the switch.
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Google’s Eric Schmidt Says Open Source Could Be The Way To Go In Health IT
PCAST recently released a report calling for the creation of a “universal exchange language,” to enable patients to access their information from wherever they are. That can’t be done now, since all those EHRs on the market are incompatible with one another. Read More »
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Using Mobile Phones and Open Source Tools to Empower Social Workers in Tanzania
In this paper we describe a text message (SMS) based solution that harnesses the prevalence of mobile phones coupled with several Open Source tools to empower these para-social workers.
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Drug-Resistant Malaria Could Spread Fast, Expert Warns
Drug-resistant malaria could spread from southeast Asia to Africa within months, putting millions of children's lives at risk, a leading expert warned on Wednesday. Nicholas White, professor of tropical medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok, called for a war before it is too late on the malaria strain resistant to the drug artemisinin that first emerged along the Thai-Cambodian border in 2007.
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Comments Sought on Potential Stage 2 Meaningful Use Objectives
The Health IT Policy Committee is seeking comments on potential stage 2 objectives from the public on a draft document of preliminary recommendations it has developed. Read More »
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HP, GE, Harris Heat Up Health Information Exchange Development
HP gets a $30 million contract to build an Health Information Exchange in Texas, while GE and KeyHIE expand a health information network in Pennsylvania, and Harris takes the HIE reins in Florida.
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Herbalism: Open Source Medicine
At first glance, herbalism and software development would seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. In fact these people have a lot in common and would benefit from each other’s expertise.
Maybe Herbalists could benefit from working more closely with the open-source movement and learn from their experience. Web professionals could also find great value in learning more about herbalism and its benefits.
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Will Digital Technology Reduce Gap in Health Between Rich and Poor?
Two years ago, the Ethio American Health Center opened its doors in the nation’s capital, promising the country’s largest community of Ethiopian immigrants a place where doctors spoke their language and understood their culture.
Many of the community’s poorest quickly flocked to the center. But for all the specialized services the center offers patients, there’s one area where it’s fallen short: moving from paper files to electronic health records. They don’t even have a website.
“It would be great, but we can’t afford it,” said Dawit Gizaw, the center’s administrator. Read More »
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